The battle over a company’s efforts to restart a shuttered oil pipeline and some oil platforms in Santa Barbara County will be back in the spotlight on Tuesday.
The fight is over efforts by Sable Offshore Corporation to reopen the pipeline, which ruptured on the Gaviota Coast in 2015, resulting in an oil spill of more than 140,000 gallons.
Sable bought the pipeline and the platforms from ExxonMobil.The county must approve the ownership transfer because it involves the transfer of key county operating permits for the facilities.
Sable repaired the pipeline, but environmental groups say restarting the decades-old infrastructure is setting the stage for another major spill.
In October, Supervisors voted 4 to 1 to deny the ownership change. They asked staff to come back with the wording for the decision. A final vote is set for Tuesday.
The implications of denying the ownership change for efforts to restart the facilities remain unclear.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office regulates the pipeline. It has yet to release a decision on whether it can reopen. However, Sable recently announced that it will seek federal jurisdiction over the pipeline, apparently in the hope that a federal agency will be more supportive of the project.
In its federal filings, Sable officials have stated that if they cannot obtain approval to use the pipeline, they may use ocean tankers to transport the oil to facilities for processing.
